Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, and the Alliance for Rabies Control (ARC) announced their global partnership agreement to raise awareness about the importance of rabies prevention and control in the fight against this deadly infection. Rabies is a neglected disease that kills on average one person every ten minutes worldwide. Sanofi Pasteur and ARC partner on rabies advocacy and educational awareness programs to help reduce human suffering from the disease.

"The fight against rabies requires a global and strong commitment from all health partners. The Alliance works with public and private partners to take action, share information and raise funds to prevent rabies." said Deborah Briggs, executive director of the Alliance for Rabies Control. "Sanofi Pasteur has always been a supporter of the ARC and we are pleased to bolster our relationships to break new ground against rabies."

"We are proud to reinforce our commitment to fight against rabies. Over 120 years after Louis Pasteur's first human rabies immunization in 1885, rabies is still a public health threat in Asia and Africa, especially for children," said Wayne Pisano, president and chief executive officer of Sanofi Pasteur. "Sanofi Pasteur is proud to help advance the fight against this fatal but vaccine-preventable disease."

World rabies day, an unprecedented opportunity to take action Sanofi Pasteur is an official partner to the World Rabies Day led by the ARC. WRD is the only worldwide campaign dedicated to human and animal rabies prevention. For the first World Rabies Day in 2007, over 54 million people in 74 countries received educational messages in their own languages. Effective educational messages targeted at populations living at greatest risk of exposure to rabies have shown to help reduce mortality rate.

Each year, on September 28, the Alliance and its partners work to extend the current scope and impact of World Rabies Day initiatives. Rabies kills on average one person every 10 minutes Rabies is a neglected disease still causing a significant burden with approximately 55,000 estimated deaths worldwide annually, mostly in Asia and Africa.

Children are particularly at high risk since they are less wary of unfamiliar dogs than adults and therefore are bitten more often, most commonly on the face or extremities. Rabies is an underestimated problem particularly in rural areas of endemic countries: 84 per cent of deaths occur in rural areas in Asia and Africa. Vaccination is the only effective prevention against rabies

The World Health Organization recommends that preventive vaccination programmes should be promoted for children living in areas where canine rabies is endemic. It is also recommended for anyone at increased risk of exposure to the rabies virus such as laboratory staff, veterinarians and animal handlers, as well as travelers to areas with a high risk of rabies. Post-exposure prophylaxis for severe bites requires both active immunization, with rabies vaccine, and passive immunization in the form of rabies immunoglobulins (RIG). In the last 20 years, over 20 million people in 100 countries have been treated with Sanofi Pasteur's rabies products (vaccines and rabies immunoglobulins).

Rabies vaccination by Louis Pasteur was an important step in vaccine history when, in 1885, Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog, was protected from contracting the disease by successive inoculations of Pasteur's rabies vaccine over a 10-day period.

The Alliance for Rabies Control is the foremost non profit organization dedicated to eliminating rabies throughout the world.